Good Google? Bad Google?

My entry to telecom policy and regulation was through the AT&T Divestiture case, where the US Department of Justice broke up the world’s largest company with my advisor, Bill Melody, as a key witness. The good guys and the bad guys were clear. While I was teaching the big Microsoft antitrust case came up and Lessig was appointed as Master to assist the judge. The lines were not as clear, but I could see the leveraging of the operation system being problematic. Google’s case is much harder to take a position on. But let’s keep watching. The checks and balances of the US system are such that hubris is never permitted.

Google’s story: The company is zealously dedicated to helping people find the most useful information on the Internet, and Google’s prosperity and the economic opportunity it has created for many thousands of American businesses all flow from that high-minded mission.

The rivals’ rebuttal: Google increasingly tilts search results in favor of its own online commerce offerings like travel and shopping as it bundles those services into its industry-dominant search engine, limiting choice and stifling competition.